My Recent Brush With Food Poisoning
I’m in Austin, Texas, for a conference until tomorrow, and I spent the early morning hours today in the emergency room after throwing up (among other things) every five minutes for two hours. The diagnosis? Food poisoning, probably staph. I’m feeling a little better now after a few hours of sleep and lots and lots of IV fluids and drugs, but not quite up to speed yet.
Here are some tips to help you avoid the delightful fun I’ve gone through during the last 12 hours:
- Order your food thoroughly cooked.
- If you have a sensitive stomach, avoid unusual or particularly powerful spices.
- Be sure to consume some carbs and proteins before drinking alcohol, and drink lots of water.
- Avoid questionable produce, including garnishes, so you won’t take in any bacteria or pesticides that could make you sick.
When traveling, be sure to carry your ID and your insurance card with you at all times! I was really glad I had mine last night when I checked into the hospital. Otherwise, my bill would have been a whopping $826 instead of my $100 co-pay.
Stay safe!
Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King
Tags: alcohol, bacteria, carbs, co-pay, drinking, emergency-room, fluids, food-poisoning, hospital, insurance, liquids, pesticides, Protein, staph, Travel, woman, women, Womens-HealthRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Archives
.gif)
6 opinions for My Recent Brush With Food Poisoning
Katharine
May 21, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Geez, Kristen! You sure do go to great lengths researching your articles. ;-)
Seriously, feel better soon!
Harmony
May 22, 2007 at 5:28 am
Have a safe trip home and feel better ;)
Devon Ellington
May 24, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Yeah, when I get food poisoning or food allergic reactions, I throw up every 5 minutes for 12-15 hours. If it goes longer to that, I go to the emergency room, but now that I’ve stopped eating shrimp, it doesn’t happen as often.
There’s an article in SELF magazine this month about how global warming is one of the causes of more instances of food poisoning, food allergies, gastric distress, etc. If you like, I”ll make a photocopy and send it to you.
Weekly Health Observances in May
May 25, 2007 at 6:28 pm
[…] 13-19 Food Allergy Awareness Week (read the LW post!) National Alcohol- and Other Drug-Related Birth Defects Week National Women’s Health […]
Lisa
Jun 2, 2007 at 9:35 pm
I am so sick as I write this. Been sick since Thursday night, another bout of food poisoning. It’s always me that gets it.
I cannot keep anything down, can’t leave the bathroom. Feel like I need to die to get better.
Just drinking Pedialyte, for dehydration. That stays down. Drinking water makes me even vomit.
5 Critical Health Tips for 20somethings
Aug 3, 2007 at 3:33 am
[…] sweet job right out of college, you can’t afford to pay full price for that stuff. My four-hour trip to the ER with food poisoning would have been more than $1000 between the hospital and the individual physician bills. I […]
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: